Scripture says it happened under the bear were the true authors of them; it reign of Ahasuerus, King of Persia; but is more likely that these are only the as there have been several Persian kings names of those to whom they were first of that name, it is not exactly known in given to sing.

which reign it is to be dated. Dr. Light- After the Psalms are the The Proverbs, foot thinks it was that Artaxerxes who which are a collection of moral sentences, hindered the building of the Temple, and of which Solomon was the writer. This who, in the Book of Ezra, is called also name is given them by the Greeks, but the Ahasuerus, after his great-grandfather the Hebrews call them Misle, that is, ParaKing of the Medes. bles, or Comparisons; and the word may

The history of Job, which is next in also signify Sentences, or Maxims. It is order, is not only a narration of his ac-ja collection of divine precepts, proper for tions, but contains also the entire discour-every age, and every condition of life. ses which this pious man had with his The book which follows is also a Morwife and his friends, and is indeed, one of al one, and was likewise composed by the most eloquent books in the Holy Scrip- Solomon. The Greeks call it Ecclesiastures. It is generally conjectured that tes, which answers to the name of KoheMoses was the writer or compiler of this leth, which it bears in the Hebrew. Both book; but this is very uncertain. these words signify, in our language, a Next to the Historical books of Scrip- Preacher, or one who speaks in an asture, follow those of a moral nature. The sembly. In this book is given an admirfirst of these is the Book of Psalms, which able picture of the vanity of the world. are likewise, in some measure, historical; Among the Moral books is also reckon for they recite miracles which God had ed The Song of Songs; that is to say, acwrought,and contain, as it were, an abridge-cording to the Hebrew manner of speakment of all that had been done for the ing, a most excellent song. This book Israelites, and that had happened to them. has nothing of morality in it, and, there The Hebrews call them. The Book fore, it is thought the only reason of its beof Praise,' by which they mean, of the ing placed here is, because it was a third praise of God. The word Psalm is work of Solomon; for there is not one Greek, and properly signifies the sound moral or religious maxim in it, and the of a stringed instrument of music. The name of God is not so much as mentioned Hebrews sung the Psalms with different in it, except once in the original Hebrew, instruments. We make but one book of where it is used adjectively. It is an them all, but the Hebrews divide them Epithalamium, or nuptial song, wherein, into five parts, which all end with the by the expressions of love between a bridewords Amen Amen. Though the Psalms groom and his bride, are set forth, and bear the name of David, yet they were illustrated, the mutual affections that pass not all composed by him; some of them between God and a distinguished remnant are more ancient, and others of a later of mankind. It is a sort of dramatic poem, date than his time; some of them being or pastoral; the bride and bridegroom, ascribed to Moses, Samuel, and Ezra, for the more lively representation of huSpeaking of the dedication of the Second mility and innocence, are brought in as a Temple, Prideaux says, 'In this dedica- shepherd and shepherdess. We learn tion, the 146th, the 147th, and the 148th from St. Jerome, that the Jews were not Psalms, seem to have been sung: for, in permitted to read this song, or the chapSeptuagint versions, they are styled ters at the beginning of the Book of Gen The Psalms of Haggai and Zechariah, as esis, till they were thirty years old. if they had been composed by them for this In regard to the Prophets, it may be ob occasion; and this, no doubt, was from served, that all the Old Testament is con some ancient tradition: but, in the original sidered to be in substance one continued Hebrew, these Psalms have no such title prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ; perfixed to them, neither have they any so that all the books of which it consists other to contradict it.' It is not probable, are understood to be in some sense Prohowever, that all those whose names they phetical. But this name is more espcially

given to those books which were written Isaiah began his remarkable propecies by persons which had a clearer know- a short time afterwards, but his book is ledg of futurity, who forewarned both placed first, because it is largest of them kings and people of what would happen all, and is more explicit relative to the adto them, and who, at the same time, vent of Christ than any of the others. The pointed out what the Messiah was to do, language of this eminent writer is exceedwhom they who are acknowledged to ingly sublime and affecting; so much so, have beer Prophets had always in view, that it has never been equalled by any and this is what ought most especially to profane poet either in ancient or modern be taken notice of in their writings. times. It is impossible to read some of The Prophecies bear the names of those the chapters, without being struck by the to whom they belong. Some learned men force of the prophetic allusion to the charare of opinion that the Prophets made acter and sufferings of the Messiah; and abridgements of the discourses which they in consequence of these prevailing char had written, and fixed them up at the acteristics, the author is ordinarily styled gates of the Temple, that all the people the Evangelical Prophet, and, by some of might read them; and that after this the the ancients, a fifth Evangelist. The Jews ministers of the Temple might take them say that the spirit of prophecy continued away, and place them among the archives, forty years during the second Temple; which is the reason why we have not the and Malachi they call the Seal of propheProphecies in the order in which they cv, because in him the succession or series were written. But the interpreters of of prophets broke off, and and came to a Scripture have long since laboured to period. The book of Malachi. therefore restore that order, according to the course appropriately closes the sacred record of of their history. the Old Testament.

The works of the Prophets are divided into two parts, the first of which contains The Greoter, and the second the Lesser Prophets. This distinction, of course, does not apply at all to the persons of the Prophets, but only to the bulk of their works. The Greater Prophets are Isaiah," Ezekiel, Daniel, and Jeremiah. The Lamentations of Jeremiah make a separate book by themselves, containing that Prophet's descriptions, of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and of the captivity of the people. The Lesser Prophets are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. They were formerly contained in one single volume, which the Hebrews call Thereaser, which means Twelve, or the Book of the Twelve.

The dates of many of the prophecies are uncertain, but the earliest of them was in the days of Uzziah, King of Judah, and Jeroboam the Second, his contemporary, King of Israel, 200 years before the captivity, and not long after Joash had slain Zechariah, the son of Jehoida, in the court of the temple. Hosea was the first of the writing Prophets, and Joel, Amos, and Obidah, published their works about the same time.

DON VINCENTE.

The met the priest on his road, and ask ed him to lend him thirty ounces of An extraordinary trial took place not long ago, before the criminal court of gold; the priest, who knew him well, reGrenada. plied that he had a hundred ounces in his For some years past, there has been residing in the village of Ugijar, that he was welcome to it all; but Don portmanteau on the back of his mule, and a charitable individual, named Don Vin- Vincente having afterwards, in his joy, cente de Pentavally Sazar, whose whole told him for what purpose the money was fortune was devoted to improving the con- intended, the priest laughed at him, and said dition of the villagers and relieving the he was mad, and that for such a purpose poor. To such an extent did Don Vincente carry his charity, that he denied Vincente, irritated at this, shot him dead; he should not have a single ounce. Don himself almost the necessaries of life, in order to succour the necessitous, and he and having taken his gold; gave the wedhad been known to take the cloak from ding dowery; and distributed the rest in his own back to cover that of a poor fe- various acts of charity. Having commit. ted this murder; he resolved to make the Suddenly, the peaceful inhabitants of this village the continual demands of his pensioners; robbery of the rich the means of meeting committed in their neighbourhood, and all life; he committed murder after muider and as this was only to be done by taking attempts to discover their origin were until he was detected. vain. It was merely known, from the sentence of death pronounced upon him On hearing the circumstances attending them, that they by his judges; he exclaimed; 'Oh, my must have been committed by the same God! who will take care of my poor? hand. Suddenly, however, the mystery was to be revealed. Two peasants, who had entered a recess to shelter themselves from the sun, and eat their mid-day meal,

male who was without one.

were alarmed at accounts of murders

Galignani.

I've a secret to tell thee, but hush! not here----
Oh! not where the world its vigil keeps:
I'll seek, to whisper in thine ear,

Some shore where the Spirit of Silence sleeps;
Where summer's wave unmurmuring dies,
Nor fay can hear the fountain's gush;
Where, but a note her night-bird sighs,

were startled by the firing of a gun, and IV'E A SECRET TO TELL THEE. running out, they saw the body of a murdered man, and the murderer standing over him, rifling his pocket. They threw themselves upon the assassin, and having secured him, were in the greatest astonishment at seeing that it was the charitable Don Vincente. As the denial of the crime before him was impossible, he admitted that he was the author of all the murders which had been committed, and stated that his only wish was to obtain money, his own resources being exhausted, for the poor. In the defence before the judges, he declared that his first murder, was of a wealthy priest, and took place under the following circumstances:

In Don Vincente's village two young persons were betrothed to each other, but a sudden calamity which occured to the father of the female prevented his paying

The rose, saith, chiding him," Hush, sweet hush!'

There, 'mid the deep silence of that hour,

When stars can be heard in ocean dip,
Thyself shall, under some rosy bower,
Sit mute, with thy finger on thy lip:
Like him, the boy, who born among

The flowers that on the Nile-stream blush,
Sits ever thus-his only song

To earth and heav'n still "Hush, all, hush!"

the promised portion with his daughter, As an instance of the strange association of ideas and the marriage was on the point of in some minds, we may mention, that when a genbeing broken off. Don Vincente, hearing tleman remarked on the morning that intelligence of the circumstance, resolved to raise was received of Lord Byron's death-"So Byron is the money, and applied to several of his gone!"—an individual present rejoined, "Yes, and acquaintances for a loan, but received do you know, Mr. Cooper, our neighbour is not exa refusal from all. Shortly afterwards pected to live?"

LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN.

A PRODIGAL. What makes you spend your time so freely, Jack? Because it's the only thing I have to spend.'

PRECOCITY. If young ladies now-a-days did not become women at thirteen, men would have better wives.

The events of Bunyan's life were few. He was born within a mile of Bedford, in the year 1628; his parents were braziers, and he was brought up to the same trade. He seems, by his own account, to have been rather dissipated in his youth, but he married early, and soon afterwards acquired decidedly religious habits. Being of a very enA dutchman once on seeing a threat in thusiastic temperament and vivid imagination, he a news-paper that his landlord was about was continually haunted by what appeared to him to prosecute him; for getting timber off visions and heavenly revelations. Having taken from his Lordship's land without leave, means to disseminate his own peculiar notions, he was arrested as a dangerous person, and thrown wrote him this poetical reply. into prison, where he remained for twelve years. It was here he wrote most of his works, which are very voluminous. He survived his confinement sixteen years, during which time he paid regularly an annual visit to London, employing himself in CHIT CHAT OF FASHIONS, preaching, and superintending the publication of Undress Mantles are of a woollen material, dark his different compositions. He died in the year ground, either plaided or spotted. The material 1688, aged sixty. He left behind him a widow, is of a fine, soft, and warm kind, is styled double who had been his second wife, and three children. flannel. They are made loose in the back, with a The year in which the first edition of the "Pil- pelerine set on full, and sleeves which decend over grim's Progress" was published is not known. the hand. They are a very convenient and com The second edition is preserved in the British fortable envellope. Museum, and bears date 1678.

WIDOW OF BURNS.

For thieves to dreaten thieves, it toes no coot.
For you sthole de lant and we'l stheel de woot,

CAPS.-The most novel are of tulle Sylphide the caul is very low; the trimming of the front passes in a plain band across the forehead, and is disposed very full at the sides; a good many are ornamented with ribbons only. Some are decorated with a knot of ribbon on one side of the caul, and a small tuft of field flowers intermingled with the lace on the opposite side of the front.

JEWELLERY.-The bracelets serpents are the most in vogue, they are beautifully and richly wrought. A very pretty ornament for the throat is composed of a band of black velvet about an inch broad, it is fastened at the throat by a button of gold or precious stones.

An English gentleman visiting the widow of Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, at Dumfries, was exceedingly anxious to obtain some relic of the bard, as he called it; that is, some scrap of his hand writing, or any other little object which could be considered a memorial of the deceased. Mrs. Burns replied to all his entreaties, that she had already given away every thing of that kind that was remarkable, or that she could think of parting with; that, indeed, she had no relic to give him. Still the visitant insisted, and still Mrs. Burns declared her inability to satisfy him; CIRCUS, Chesnut Street.-We have occasionat length, pushed by his good-humoured entreaties ly alluded to the perfornences at this establishment, to the very extremity, she good-humouredly said, as being of a character calculated to amuse as well "Well, sir, unless you take myself, I really can as instruct the youthful mind. And never has think of no other relic (relict) of him, that it is in my power to give, or yours to receive." Of course this closed the argument.

A shopkeeper in recommending a piece of goods to a lady, remarked, 'Madam, it will wear for ever, and make you a first rate petticoat afterwards.'

the fact been more strongly impressed upon us, than during the past week, the entertainments are of the rarest description. We take pride in noticeing the establishment, not from any selfish motive, for we have nothing to gain or lose by the proceedings; but from the fact of the respectable manner, and particular attention that every thing appears to be characterised with. The character of the audihibition in the city, and it is partly from this cause, ence is not exceeded if equalled by any other exno doubt, as well as to the talent of the performbaders, that the managers are to account for the prosperous business that has attended them, uuabated, since the opening, despite the weather, and the strong opposition they are surrounded with.

GUESSING. "Teddy, me boy, jist guess how many cheeses there is in this ere bag, an' faith I'll give ye the whole five. ‘Five' said Teddy. Arrah, by my sowl, luck to the man that tould ye.'

And

BANKS.-When the poet, or moralist, or whatever he was, wrote, "this is a their industry and enterprise certainly deserve all world of change,' the banks had not sus- the encouragement that can be lavished upon them pended. by a discerning public.